Exposed
by lstvry
Summary: Secrecy. An interesting thing. One may think that they can keep it forever, but they can't. See what happens when the United States government finds out the existence of the Cullens.
1. Chapter 1

Exposed

**I don't own any of the characters from Twilight (I wish)**

**A/N This is my first fanfiction I'm really nervous, so please review and tell me what you all think. **

Chapter 1

Bella POV

Secrecy. An interesting thing. One may think that they can keep it forever, but they can't. We had thought that we would be able to keep the existence of vampires a secret from the rest of the human world. But apparently, that wasn't true.

It was a warm, cloudy day in Forks, Washington. Edward and I were sitting together on the couch, listening to Emmett trying to persuade Jasper that wrestling him would help improve his battle skills.

"Come on Jasper!" said Emmett, "I haven't had a good fight in weeks, and I'm bored out of my mind."

"Well if you are so bored, why don't you go with Alice on her next shopping trip so I don't have to." said Jasper. That shut him up.

Emmett went and pouted on the floor while Jasper turned on the TV. He turned it on the weather channel. The weather man was looking bored, as if he had done thousands of weather reports, and he was just waiting to go home. He gestured to the green screen, which was showing the upcoming weather for Arizona.

"Hey, it's going to be cloudy over Phoenix tomorrow. You want to go for a trip?" I asked, looking at Edward.

"Sure", he answered. Then looking over at Emmett he added "Do you want to come too? It would be better than pouting on the floor for 3 hours", he added with a chuckle.

Emmett's face suddenly lighted up. "Sure! I haven't hunted rattlesnake in ages. And it would definitely be better than staying here with these people," glaring at Jasper as he said it.

"Ok," I said, "let me just go home to pack a few things and tell Charlie. I'll meet you guys here tomorrow morning."

_Maybe I should just tell him that I'm going shopping with Alice for a few days,_ I thought. He would freak out if I told him I was going with Edward.

I then drove home, wondering what cover story Charlie would believe.

When I got home, I noticed that the house was dark. Charlie must have been working late tonight. There was also a note attached to the front door. I picked it up, thinking it was from Charlie. I read it as I walked in and nearly tripped on the door frame. Apparently, it wasn't from Charlie. It was from Jacob.

Bella,

I know that you are getting married to… him. And I know that you will probably never see me again after that. So I just want to know if we can, you know, hang out before that. I know that you think that's a bad idea, and it will just make it harder, but please, please consider it. I'm free tomorrow, and just call if you want to come over.

P.s, Quil and Embry are looking forward to seeing you again, and I know you wouldn't want to let them down.

-Jacob

I sighed, putting the paper on the counter. Of course Jacob wasn't giving up. Even after he found out about the marriage, he would do everything in his power to persuade me to not to do it. At least I had a valid excuse not to go tomorrow. _Well, maybe not valid to him, _I thought wryly.

I picked up the phone and called him. It kept on ringing. _I guess he's on patrol tonight, _I thought. It really was better this way. I just couldn't bear telling him no if he picked up. When it went to voicemail, I told Jacob that I was going to go to Arizona tomorrow. I didn't say who I was going with; he would assume who anyway. I hung up the phone feeling a little guilty. _Don't feel guilty_, I thought, _he has to get used to the fact that I won't be here much longer. As a human anyways._

Then I went and wrote a note to Charlie, saying that I was going on a trip with Alice and that I would be back in a few days. After I put it on the counter, I walked upstairs to unpack. I found Edward waiting for me in my rocking chair.

My face must have looked sad because he automatically looked pained.

"You saw the note?" he asked.

If he had said this a year ago, I would have been surprised. But now I knew that nothing escaped his beautiful, topaz eyes. Nothing.

"Yeah", I said, "He won't give up. Even when he knows that in a couple of months, it will all be for nothing."

As I said this, I suddenly felt sad. I didn't want our friendship to end, but I didn't have a choice. I loved Edward too much to not become a vampire, and he wouldn't transform me if I didn't marry him.

How did life become so complicated?

Edward must have sensed my sadness, because he came and comforted me. That's one of the things that I loved about him. He always knew how to make me feel better.

"It's ok love. Soon it will all pass, and you won't have to worry about it anymore." He tucked a strand of hair behind my ear as he said it.

I smiled at him and started to pack. _Maybe this trip would be good for me to just get away from it all_. How wrong I was.


	2. Chapter 2

**Still don't own any of the characters. Please review and I hope you like it.**

Chapter 2

The next day, Edward and I went back to his house. Edward started to laugh as we pulled up the driveway.

"What's so funny?" I asked him.

He just shook his head and kept on laughing as we walked in the door. Almost immediately, Alice came about 6 inches from my face.

"How could you only bring one suitcase for a 5 day trip!" she practically shrieked.

I didn't really know how to respond to that, so I just shrugged and walked past her. I could still see the incredulous expression on her face, and I laughed.

"It's no big deal Alice." I said, "The trip is only 5 days. All I need is some clothes, a couple toiletries, and I'm good."

She made a You- have-so-much-to-learn face at me, and then sat on the couch beside Jasper. Esme then gave me a hug and wished me a good time. Then Edward, Emmett, and I went in the garage. Emmett was saying that we should take his jeep, but Edward mentioned that there weren't any trees in Phoenix, and we would stick out. Emmett reluctantly agreed and we got in. Edward went in the driver's seat and I got in shotgun. Emmett looked like he was about to argue with the seating arrangements, but then he got a mischievous grin and said nothing. I was contemplating asking him about it, but then we shot out of the garage at 50 miles an hour. I had forgotten that Edward drove like a lunatic on steroids.

"Whoa slow down!" I yelled to Edward, who was nonchalantly looking out the window. He gave me a devilish grin and sped up about 20 miles, making me freak out even more. Emmett was chortling behind me, and I gave him the best death stare I could. This made him start to laugh even louder.

"Don't worry Bella", said Edward "We have been doing this for 50 years. We haven't even gotten into an accident before."

That's because no sane driver would go within a mile of you. I just shook my head and tried to relax. At least it wouldn't take that long to drive to Phoenix.

By the time we got on the highway, Edward was going 95 miles an hour. I tried to keep myself from hyperventilating my reading a book. It was starting to work. I just imagined that I was in a nice chair that wasn't going 100 miles an hour. Wait, don't think of that, I kept reminding myself.

At 11, my stomach started to growl. Emmett was saying that that was the scariest thing he had ever heard from me, and I was about to retort when it growled again, and I blushed. Finally Edward said that we should go to McDonalds, and I was about to disagree, but then Emmett started cracking up again, and I said ok.

Within a couple minutes Edward reached the drive through. The woman inside had beautiful blue eyes and silky straight hair. She looked like she was in her mid-twenties. I noticed that she just kept staring at Edward. It was like she had never seen a guy before. Well, technically she hasn't seen a guy like Edward before. After about 15 seconds of her staring, Edward cleared his throat and she came back to reality. He gave her our order, and we were told to pay at the next window.

It was a while before the second window opened. The women from the first window seemed to have mentioned Edward, because the second women's bright green eyes widened as she looked at him. Combined with her bulging eyes and her heavy eye liner, she reminded me of an owl. She stammered as she asked for the money, and her hand was shaking when she gave back change. Then she blushed and looked away. That was our cue to move on. By the time we arrived at the third window, all the employees were gathered in the background to look at the supposedly hot driver. The man in the window kept on looking jealously at Edward, as if trying to figure out how he could copy down his perfect features. Eventually the man handed me my Big Mac and drink.

Apparently word spreads fast through McDonalds. It's funny how none of them are looking at Emmett. Emmett seemed to have noticed this too, because he was looking rather forlorn. I had to laugh at this. Here he had the most gorgeous wife known to mankind, and he was forlorn about some McDonalds employees not noticing him.

At around 9 at night, we stopped at a hotel. I wasn't surprised when Edward picked the fanciest hotel in the whole city to spend the night in. Sometimes I wondered if the Cullens ever got into any credit card debt, and used Jasper's scare tactics to get out of it. I could almost imagine Jasper in a pinstripe suit going into a Bank of America and coming out with millions of dollars.

Then I shook my head. Carlisle would never allow that. And besides, that's what the stock market is for.

Edward called my name, pulling me out of my fantasies.

"Bella, do you want the presidential suite, or the suite with the best view of the city?" I just shook my head. I would never be able to adjust to the luxurious lifestyle of the Cullens. Well, almost never.

When we got up to our room, I gasped. The room was beautiful! The gorgeous desert paintings on the wall, combined with the décor on the tables made the room absolutely amazing. Emmett and Edward just strolled in, as if they expected this much whenever they entered a hotel room.

I went to me and Edward's bed, while Emmett went to his own room. I could tell that he was missing Rosalie already. It's a good thing we didn't bring her along though… the furniture would be outrageously expensive to replace. Not to mention the noise. I shuttered at that thought.

At around 10:30, I decided to go to bed. I said goodnight to Emmett, and was joined by Edward in bed. His velvety soft skin and equally soft voice lulled me to sleep…


	3. Chapter 3

**I don't own anything Twilight character related.**

Chapter 3

I dreamed that we were laying down in the meadow together. The sun was shining on us and I could see the way Edward's skin sparkled. It was one the most spectacular sights ever seen. We were staring into each other's eyes and it was paradise. He leaned in, his golden eyes inches from my face, right about to kiss me when-

"WAKE UP SLEEPING BEAUTY!" yelled Emmett. He smiled that mischievous smile again. "That is payback for making me ride in the back yesterday."

I groaned. "Couldn't you have waited 30 more seconds?" I asked groggily.

Edward laughed. "If he did, he would have heard you say some more embarrassing things."

I blushed and quickly looked out the window.

Oh great. Not only do I have to listen to Emmett harass me about human things, but now I have to listen to him harass me about my love life.

I just nodded at Edward and tried to look nonchalantly at Emmett. Be patient, and you will find something that makes him embarrassed.

After I ate my breakfast (with Emmett pretending to gag at my bacon) I packed up my things and we were on the road again. I had managed to convince Edward to only go 20 miles above the speed limit this time. It was a hollow victory. Around an hour after hearing Emmett tell bad jokes, I turned on the radio. Bad mistake.

As soon as I pressed on, Emmett went and tried to change the station to oldies music.

"Ugh", I said, "you actually like this music?"

Emmett tried to look like he wasn't embarrassed by this, and not quite succeeding. "Yeah, so what? The music was awesome back then. And it sure beats the pop culture garbage they have now."

I tried to look offended, but he was right. The music right now did suck. "Ok then, what should we listen to, cause I'm not listening to 50s music."

Then Edward stepped in and turned it to a classical station. I myself loved it, but sadly Emmett didn't. He kept on making random sounds during the songs, and saying how boring classical music was during the breaks. Finally we came to an agreement and turned it to a country station.

Man it's a good thing Jasper isn't here. He would have made us cry or something if we changed it to anything but country.

At last we made it to Arizona around nightfall. We picked another fancy hotel (shockingly). When we walked through the lobby, we immediately had the whole crowd's attention. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw some people trying to take pictures with their cell phones, but trying not to be too obvious. I had to laugh at this.

Soon I will be one of them too. I better get used to all this attention.

We walked over to the lobbyist, who was a balding middle- aged man. His nametag read George Garret. As we came closer, he seemed to be in a mix of awe and fear. He seemed to be eyeing Edward and Emmett as if they were venomous snakes about to strike out at any time. And in a way, they were. They did have venom, and they definitely had the speed and power of a snake. But they also had intelligence, which made them a thousand times more deadly than common snakes. Mr. Garret seemed to pick this up.

He seemed to be internally arguing with himself, probably wondering if he should call the police just because of two strange men. I guess he decided not to, because when we arrived at his desk, he greeted us with a smile that I knew was to be fake.

"Hello, how may I help you?" asked Mr. Garret. Was I just imagining the panic in his voice?

"Yes," said Edward gently. He must have picked up that this poor man was terrified of him. "We would like the presidential suite."

Mr. Garret looked surprised. Either because he thought that Edward and Emmett were here to rob him and not sleep here, or because he didn't expect us to be able to afford the presidential suite.

He soon got over his surprise. "Ah, y-yes. The pre-presidential suite." He dug through his desk until he found the right key. "Here you g-go." When he handed Edward the key, I noticed that his palms were clammy and sweaty.

Edward quickly took the key and my suitcase and walked into the elevator. Emmett and I soon followed. I thought I heard Mr. Garret breathe a sigh of relief.

Once the doors closed I decided to ask the question that kept haunting my mind.

"Do you get that a lot?" I asked Edward. "The people that panic, I mean."

He contemplated his answer, his face a mask. He finally answered when we walked into our room.

"Occasionally. Normally the people that panic are the ones that we have to watch out for. They are the ones that watch our every move for something out of the ordinary. They are able to see beyond our beauty and see the true monsters that we are."

I flinched when he said that word. Monsters. Why does he always have to think that he is a monster? Doesn't he realize how much good he has done in life? In my life at least? But I decided to drop the subject. We had had this conversation before, and there was no getting through to him that he wasn't a killer. Maybe in a few decades, his mind will change, I thought hopefully.

When I went to bed that night, Edward was deep in thought. I could tell that his mind was far away when he was caressing my cheek. That night, I didn't dream of a sparkling Edward. I dreamed of being in a snake pit.


	4. Chapter 4

**I don't own Twilight or the characters. I'm working on that ;)**

Chapter 4

When I woke up the next morning, Edward seemed to be in a better mood. His eyes had a twinkle in them that wasn't there last night; as if he suddenly decided that the world thanked him for being alive.

I liked that twinkle. That twinkle and his crooked smile was what I would like to see every day as long as I existed. And that would be forever, as long as Edward kept his promise.

I kept on staring at Edward's face until Emmett whistled a couple seconds later. I turned to glare at him, but then my expression softened as I saw that he knew what I was thinking. He knew that look. It was the same look he gave Rosalie every day. True love.

I then packed up my things and looked out the window of our room. The sun was shining, but there were many big clouds surrounding it, so we shouldn't have to worry. As we walked out of the door of the elevator to the lobby, Edward suddenly stiffened beside me.

"Bella, get down. NOW!" hissed Edward. He usually didn't use that tone unless something was incredibly dangerous.

I immediately obeyed and ran to the nearest couch. My foot happened to catch on the foot of it and I tripped behind it. I was surprised that Emmett didn't snicker. This must have been really serious.

A couple seconds later, I saw a guy walk into the lobby. He had long, messed up hair like Edward's always was. He had small, brown eyes that were always observant. He also seemed to be very nervous, the kind of nervousness brought on by adrenaline and fear for one's safety. The man was tall, medium build, and muscular. He also happened to be wearing the same colored shirt as Edward.

He walked with purpose up to the lobbyist. I noticed that there was a different man behind the desk today, a man of about 30.

When the man got to the desk, he paused for a second. Then he slightly shook his head and mumbled something under his breath. Then he took out a pistol out of nowhere and aimed it at the lobbyist. The lobbyist looked up and nearly chocked.

The man yelled to everyone in the lobby. "This is a hold up! Everyone on the floor now!"

Edward motioned for him and Emmett to lie down. Emmett didn't look happy, but he agreed.

Satisfied with the cooperation, the man looked back at the poor lobbyist and demanded all the money he had. The lobbyist shakily retrieved all the money he could and handed it to the man. He whimpered when their hands met.

Then the man ran out the door and turned on the corner. I heard the lobbyist calling the police. They would be here within minutes.

Edward then came to me and asked if I was ok. "Yeah, I'm fine." I said in a slightly shaky voice. I hoped he wouldn't notice.

"Well, no use waiting around here much longer," Emmett said before Edward could speak, "Soon the police will be busy looking for evidence and stuff like that". He was right; we better might as well head off.

We walked into the Volvo and Edward started to drive again. We drove a few blocks when the gas started to get low. Edward then sighed and drove into an empty gas station. As he went outside to fill the tank, two police officers were staring at him suspiciously.

One was a very big guy. That was the easiest way to describe him. He was probably 6 foot 6 and had a very muscular chest. He also had dark brown skin and a shaved head. If I hadn't been around Emmett for the past year, I probably would have felt intimidated. The other man was very tall and skinny. He lacked the muscle of the other man, but what he didn't have in muscle, he made up for in experience. You could practically read the thousands of investigations and crime this man had solved in his career in his light blue eyes and the wrinkles on his face. Only an idiot would mess with these two.

The experienced man took out his radio and said something into it. He then looked alarmed at Edward and motioned for the big man to go over. Slowly, the big man nodded and cautiously approached Edward.

"Sir," he said. He had a very deep voice. Shocking. "Would you please come with me?" He motioned towards the cruiser.

I then hurriedly jumped out of the Volvo and nearly tripped. Incoordination didn't exactly help with speed. Emmett and I went to Edward's side.

"And may I ask what I have done?" asked Edward calmly, assessing the situation through reading the officers' thoughts.

This didn't have the desired effect. Apparently the officer must have thought that this sounded aggressive, because he suddenly got behind Edward and cuffed him and led him to the police car. I followed, with Emmett looking annoyed and furious at the same time.

Once Edward reached the car, he gracefully sat in the backseat without saying anything. He must have known that nothing would help him at this point.

"Hey, what's the big idea!" demanded Emmett. He was glaring at the two cops now. The big guy just seemed to notice Emmett, and he was sizing him up, waiting to see if a fight would break out.

Finally he gave in and sighed. "Would you two like to come along?" I nodded and sat next to Edward in the backseat. I looked into his eyes and traced his face with my finger. He looked at me and gave me a crooked smile.

"Don't worry Bella, we will handle this, then we can get back to our trip." He was trying to keep me calm.

Then Emmett came and squished next to me and ruined the mood. The policemen then got into the car and sped off. We soon arrived the city police station. The big man then roughly led Edward into a back door of the building, while the experienced officer led Emmett and me through the front doors.

We were greeted by a perky receptionist and then walked down a long hallway until we reached a peculiar room. It was one of those rooms that had 2 way glass; the kind that you always saw when a person was trying to identify a suspect. There were three people on the other side of the glass well, four counting Edward.

Then it all snapped into place for me. The police thought Edward was the person who robbed the hotel this morning. That was why they had taken him here. But where was the lobbyist? Surely he would be the person identifying the robber. Then I notice Mr. Garret staring intently at the four men. I walked over to him and asked him where the other lobbyist was.

"He had to leave suddenly. But before he went, he gave me a very, very detailed description of the man who robbed the hotel." Then I started to panic. Mr. Garret already thought of Emmett and Edward as criminals already. It was obvious by the way he looked at them when we first walked in the lobby last night. And he probably thought that it was Edward who was the robber.

I quickly exchanged a look with Emmett, and he understood too. His face was grim, something extremely rare for Emmett.

Then the chief police officer came to Mr. Garret. "Have you identified the robber, Sir?"

Mr. Garret replied confidently. "Yes. Yes I have Chief. It was that man." He said with absolute certainty. And to my despair, he pointed to Edward.

The big guy and the experienced man exchanged a look and nodded. Then they called for Edward to step out of the glass room. He looked bleak as the officers handcuffed him and led him outside and into an alley behind the building towards the cop cruiser. Apparently they needed to take him to booking or something.

As the two men, Edward, Emmett, and I walked outside, something completely unexpected and terrifying happened. The sun came out from behind the clouds and shone directly on Edward and Emmett. And they beamed like spotlights right in front of the two officers.

**A/N That is what you call a cliffhanger ;)**


	5. Chapter 5

**I don't own Twilight. I don't own Twilight. I don't own Twilight… nope; saying it over and over again doesn't make it any easier.**

**By the way, in case any of you are confused, this story takes place in between Eclipse and Breaking Dawn. I hope that clears things up.**

Chapter 5

At first I didn't know what to think; I was in shock. And apparently, so were the police officers. They just stared at Edward and Emmett like they were angels sent from heaven. Even I couldn't help but stare for a moment. But then I came to my senses.

I dashed over to Edward and saw that he had broken off the handcuffs. He was speaking quickly to Emmett. Far too quickly for me to understand. But before I could ask him what he was saying, the experienced officer snapped out of his reverie. He acted much faster than I would have thought possible for a man of his age.

In his years of being an officer, he must have known to capture the weakest person in a group of dangerous people. And the officer realized that I was a normal human, and seemed to acknowledge that I was the weakest and most vulnerable one of the three of us. He quickly took me into a strangle hold and pulled out his gun and aimed it at my head. It was strange that I terrified by this. I would have thought that with all the stuff I had went through with vampires trying to kill me and all that, that I wouldn't have been scared by an old man pointing a gun at me. But I was, and Edward saw that.

Almost instantaneously, Edward growled at the officer. Unfortunately, this didn't frighten him enough to let me go. He just held me tighter. I could see Edward conflicted. He didn't know if he had the speed needed to liberate me before the officer's reflexes kicked in. Edward decided not to take the risk, and instead chose intimidation and knelt into an aggressive looking crouch. He signaled for Emmett to do the same. He then snarled a feral growl.

"Get away from her", he snarled low and menacingly.

This all happened within 3 seconds, and I could see the big officer in my peripheral vision was just catching on to the act. The officer took out his gun and aimed it at Emmett, who he thought was the bigger threat. Emmett barely acknowledged this.

"I said get away. Now!" Edward bared his teeth with fury in his eyes and took a small step towards the man with the gun at me. The big man then turned his gun on Edward with a slightly shaking hand.

Then, as suddenly as it appeared, the sun vanished behind the clouds again, leaving Edward and Emmett looking normal again. Edward tried a new approach. He immediately straightened up and acted as if the whole scene had never happened. Emmett immediately followed, and the big officer looked confused for a second. But then he looked over to his partner, who wasn't as gullible. He gave the bug man a look that obviously said "Don't trust them." He then resumed with the hostage situation.

"Who are you," he asked, "or better yet, _what _are you?"

Edward remained silent, continually staring the officer down, waiting for him to lower his guard. The officer recognized this, and as a result tensed his hand even more. Edward was trying to keep his face unreadable, but I could tell that he was feeling anguish right now at the position we had gotten ourselves into. I wanted to comfort him, but that was a little difficult considering that there was a loaded gun aimed at my skull.

After a few seconds of dreadful silence, the experienced officer sighed. He knew when he wouldn't get any information out of someone, and I doubted that he really wanted to take away an innocent girl's life.

"Get the radio," he motioned to his partner, "and call the FBI, the CIA, I don't care. Just call someone and tell them to get the butts over here now. Tell them it's an emergency, and don't take no for an answer.

He dismissed his partner and was alone with the three of us. I could tell that he was nervous being alone, but he tried hard not to show it. After a few minutes, the atmosphere became slightly less tense, and Emmett even decided to lean back against the wall. Eventually the big officer came back.

"The FBI is on the way," he said gruffly. Edward looked alarmed, but Emmett just sighed, probably knowing that this would happen.

"So I take it we aren't leaving anytime soon?" Leave it to Emmett to find the humor in this situation.

I could see slight humor forming in the big officer's eyes after Emmett said this. "No, you aren't. I would make yourselves comfortable if I were you. Emmett just sighed at this and stared at the sky.

About 5 minutes later, the sun showed out of the clouds again. Both the experienced officer and Edward tensed, but neither did anything so they wouldn't provoke the other.

Once after about ten more minutes, I could sense the officer's hand getting less rigid. Edward noticed this too, because I noticed a very slight tensing of his face. He was waiting for the right time to escape with me. But sadly, he never got the chance. Edward looked hopeless, telling me that the FBI had arrived, and they would be in this alleyway shortly.

When the FBI arrived, it wasn't what I had expected. I had thought of a SWAT team bursting out of the car and cutting off our escape to the outside world. But instead, there was only one armed man with a bulletproof vest carrying some gun that I wasn't familiar with. It looked like it was capable of a lot of damage.

There was one other man. He was what a distinctive politician might look like. He was wearing a suit with a bright red tie with an FBI badge on the front. He was wearing black sunglasses.

They approached us with amused expressions on their faces. They obviously didn't believe whatever story the big officer told them. The politician examined Edward and Emmett, probably trying to figure out what could possibly be dangerous about them. He was about to speak when suddenly the sun came out from behind the clouds again. _Man! I guess the weather isn't very vampire friendly today. I blame the weather man._

Edward and Emmett sparkled again and dazzled the two FBI men. I swear I almost saw the politician's eyes go wider than the glasses. After a couple seconds, the two men gathered their composure.

"Well this is interesting," said the gunman. "Guess they weren't lying after all."

The big officer shot the gunman a dirty glance, but then looked back at Edward and Emmett. The politician gave all three of us a cold, calculated look. After a few seconds, he seemed to make up his mind. I saw Edward tense up at his thoughts.

"You two come with me," he said as he gestured to the armored vehicle that was our transportation.

"I'm coming too," I said stubbornly. I wasn't going to let them take away Edward or Emmett without me knowing the outcome. Even if I was the weakest person, I deserved to go.

The man hesitated for a second. Finally he said "Fine," with a tone that clearly ended the discussion.

Edward gave me an are-you-out-of-your-mind look. I guess he didn't like that I was putting myself in danger again. Too late now.

When we turned out of the alley, I saw what car we would be riding in. It reminded me of one of those gray armory cars that had no windows, and could hold 15 people in it. As we piled in, I suddenly wondered something.

"Where are you taking us?" I tried to make my voice sound confident and brave, but to no avail.

The gunman who would be supervising us in the back answered me.

"Area 51."

**A/N Ah another cliffhanger. I'm just full of them this week ;) Please review and I hoped you liked it. Sorry that there wasn't much action in this chapter towards the end. The next ones will be filled with interrogations.**


	6. Chapter 6

**I don't own Twilight or any characters or the military. Even though that would be awesome.**

Chapter 6

Area 51. The place that had been shrouded in mysteries and deception. The perfect place for the FBI to take two beings that obviously weren't human.

As Edward, Emmett, and I stepped into the car, or truck, as it should be called, I saw the police officers talking to the politician. He was nodding solemnly and asking questions vigorously. I guessed that he was probably trying to find out as much about us as possible. There was no doubt in my mind either that the experienced police man would tell of how protective Edward was over me and how he had growled and snarled when I was held hostage.

Maybe Edward was right; I was a liability to them, and I would make it harder for them to escape. _Well there isn't anything I can do about it now, _I thought bitterly.

After the FBI men had their discussion, the gunman came inside the truck and closed the doors, locking them. I noticed that there was a tiny window that I had overlooked. It was too small to crawl out of; only about a foot wide and tall, but it provided enough light to see in the truck. I saw that the politician would be driving to the base. As he was walking to the driver's seat. I saw him talking to a hidden radio in his suit, no doubt telling them to expect us at Area 51 shortly. I suppressed a shiver, seeing as Edward was sitting next to me and I didn't want to worry about me even more.

About an hour into the trip, I noticed that Edward and Emmett were having a silent conversation. Emmett was looking intensely at Edward, while trying to not make it look obvious. Edward was inconspicuously moving his head one way or the other, answering Emmett's questions. Luckily, the guard wasn't very observant and had no idea this was occurring.

A few more hours into the trip, and I was starting to feel really tired. I could see that it was probably around 8 at night by looking out the window. I decided to rest my head on Edward's stone cold shoulder and try to fall asleep. But as soon as I laid my head on his shoulder, the guard started to stare at me. I thought I saw an expression like wonder, or maybe it was shock, cross his face. He was probably trying to figure out how I dared to get this close to something this inhuman and dangerous. We stared at each other for a few more seconds, and then I decided to close my eyes. I could still feel his probing stare on me.

When I woke up, I didn't know what time it was. It felt like I had only been asleep for a few minutes, but it was pitch black outside. I didn't feel like sleeping again, so I decided to pass the time by staring at Edward's face and tracing it. He smiled at this, but his face was still serious as he (once again) assessed the guard.

What caught my attention was a streetlight illuminating a large sign. As we drove closer, I started to make out what it said.

**Area 51 Military Base. No trespassing. Violators will be shot.**

I shivered. Suddenly our situation seemed real to me and I could feel despair coming deep within my chest.

A whole group of people were about to discover the existence of their very own, personal hunters. Hunters that could easily outrun, out lift, and outsmart them. How would they react to this information? Would they immediately want to destroy all traces of them? Might they just ignore the Cullens, since they didn't hunt humans? Or, would they be like Carlisle? Would they be scientists and try to find out as much information as possible from us?

As I thought about it, the last one seemed the best in this situation. But one thing I knew for certain; the government would never tell this information to the public. And as long as the Volturi didn't decide to make a sudden visit, they would never know that the secret had been exposed. Hopefully.

Another sign took me out of my reverie. This one was smaller than the first, and seemed to be older. It was made of wood rather than metal.

**Edwards Air Force Base**

How ironic. Sitting on the bench across from us, I heard Emmett chuckle at this.

"Even in the military, you have to have something named after you?" he asked.

Edward gave him an amused look and looked out the window.

Finally, after a 3 hour sit in the van, we stopped at the base. The politician came out and unlocked the doors. He nodded to the gunman and made a motion for us to get out. I stiffly stood up and stretched a little before walking out. These next few hours would determine our future. _Future! _How had I forgotten Alice? She was probably well aware by now of what had happened to us by now. That gave me a little hope. All the Cullens probably knew by now what had happened to us, and maybe they would be able to sneak us out of here before people found out about their existence.

We continued to follow the politician through to the main gate, where there was a gigantic grey building. Windowless, of course. _They couldn't risk high priority prisoners escaping,_ I thought wryly.

When we entered through the high security doors, the first thing I noticed was all the hallways and cameras. There were three different hallways just from the entrance, and there was double the amount of cameras. This would make our escape harder.

We were then led into a small room. I thought I saw more two-way glass in this room. There were 3 chairs on one side of the room, a table in the middle with a desk lamp on it, and one other chair on the other side of the table. The room reminded me of something, but I couldn't remember what.

We were immediately ushered into the room by two more guards with guns. We sat down obediently in the three chairs; Edward to my left and Emmett to my right, and the guards took place in front of the door. High security much? _I bet the president doesn't get this much security._

I searched the room and found what I was looking for very briefly; a video camera. Of course they would be taping this.

I saw a man and a woman talking outside our room. They were arguing about something, and the woman kept angrily gesturing to a folder the man was holding. She looked like she was inevitably losing the argument, because she looked defeated.

I felt Edward tense next to me, and I noticed that Emmett was uncharacteristically frowning, with no humor left in his obsidian eyes. They exchanged a few hurried sentences, and Edward leaned in to tell me something.

"Try not to answer any questions. Deflect them to me. If you have to, lie about how we are transformed and about Carlisle and the others." He anxiously whispered to my ear. I doubted that the camera would pick that up if it recorded sound. I was wondered why he chose those things in particular to not mention. At least he seemed to have some kind of plan, whereas I didn't.

Then I suddenly remembered what this room reminded me of. It was like those rooms on NCIS where the detectives interrogated the criminals. And that was what that folder was that the man in front of us was holding. Questions that the FBI probably considered most crucial.

After the woman sullenly walked away, the man stepped in. He was probably in his mid-thirties, with brown eyes and shaggy, dark brown hair. He was wearing a suit, probably mandatory here, and a purple tie. His expression was firm, but friendly, as opposed to the dark cold stare the politician gave us whenever he looked in our direction.

The man gingerly placed the folder on the table and sat down in the only remaining chair in the room. He sat with a very relaxed nature, crossing his legs as he gazed at the three of us individually. He stared at Edward and Emmett first, and then his gaze shifted to me. His eyes were confused, wondering why I was here. He probably wasn't informed of me. He quickly shook off his confusion and finally opened the folder.

There were more papers in it than I expected. This was going to be a long interrogation.

He cleared his throat. "Hello. I am Mr. Peters. Might I ask what your names are?" His voice was very calm and soothing; the type of voice that Jasper might use to calm a raging newborn.

"I'm Edward Cullen." His velvet soft voice made Peters' sound rough and scratchy in comparison.

"Emmett Cullen," His voice boomed. Of course it also had the humor that was imbedded in every word.

"I'm Bella Swan," Unlike the others, my voice didn't sound confident or beautiful. It sounded small, nervous, and… human. Peters seemed to pick up on that and wrote something down on one of the papers.

"So, do you all know why you were sent here this evening," Peters looked at his watch, "I mean this morning?"

A few seconds passed.

"Yeah," spoke Emmett, "Cause our skin lit up like diamonds in the sunlight."

"I see," murmured Peters, "And why is that?" he inquired.

Emmett shrugged, "We're special," He smirked.

Peters let out a faint chuckle. "I guess so. So obviously, you two aren't human," he gestured to Edward and Emmett, becoming serious again, "so what are you then?"

Edward answered this with a sigh. "You can't panic after I tell you this Mr. Peters," he waited for a few moments before speaking again; assessing that Peters was calm enough.

"We are vampires."

**A/N First of all, sorry that I took way longer with this chapter than the others. I just felt that this was a chapter that could determine the rest of the story, and I didn't want to mess it up. And anyways… tell me what you think about this chapter in your REVIEWS. Hint Hint ;) One other thing; I'm currently looking for a beta, so if you are interested, PM me please **


	7. Chapter 7

**I don't own Twilight or any characters… or any secret military bases. **

Chapter 7

Silence. Peters was silent. I could sense that the whole room behind the glass was silent. I saw Emmett smirk at the effect of those three words. We are vampires.

Edward looked like he was trying to differentiate between the thoughts of all the scientists and military personnel. I saw several emotions pass his face within the next few seconds, ranging from amusement, to horror, to complete fury. I wasn't sure how noticeable his emotions were to the others.

A couple seconds passed before Peters spoke again and shockingly, he was roaring with laughter. Emmett was chortling next to me; probably thinking about how Peters' reaction would be when he realized that they were actually vampires.

After Peters eventually regained control of himself and stopped laughing, he judged the expression on Edward's face. He became serious again.

"You aren't vampires. It's scientifically impossible for vampires to exist," he said matter-of-factly.

"Who says it's impossible? Animals across the world survive on only blood," said Edward calmly.

Peters was shaking his head in denial. "If you are vampires, prove it."

I thought of all the dangerous, lethal things that a vampire could do to prove himself true, and I immediately felt that Peters was stupid for suggesting this. However, Emmett decided to go for something less lethal.

He raced behind where Peters was sitting with the speed only a vampire could achieve and got into a hunting crouch. He let loose a feral snarl that even had me scared for a moment. He waited for Peters to realize what had happened, and was proud at the effect it had.

Peters was shaking with fear and his face was contorted in panic. After seeing this, Emmett slowly strolled back into his seat and calmly sat down as if he had just turned the TV on.

After a few moments, Peters finally got over his shock and stared absent-mindedly at the papers in his folder. Then he slowly took and ripped them into pieces and threw them in a pile onto the table.

"You… are vampires?" His voiced broke. I could tell that he was trying to be professional about this, but he was failing miserably. I didn't blame him; I doubted that anyone could be professional with a topic like this.

"Yes, Emmett and I," Edward spoke very slowly, as not to frighten Peters, "But don't be frightened. We won't harm you or anyone else in here." I wasn't sure, but I thought I heard him mutter something like "hopefully" under his breath.

Peters nervously nodded his head. He turned to leave when Emmett asked, "So how much longer are we going to be in this room?"

Slowly, Peters turned around and looked at Emmett with new eyes. When he spoke, he looked down; afraid to made eye contact.

"A while," he said.

Edward frowned. "I figured that," he muttered mostly to himself.

Again, we waited for a long time. I was starting to wonder if the people here had just all panicked and rushed out of the building.

At one point, my stomach started to growl. I realized that it had been nearly 24 hours since I last ate anything. Soon my stomach's insatiable hunger wouldn't cease and it was fully audible probably from across the room. This finally triggered a reaction from the deciding staff.

A kindly looking woman cautiously entered the room. She stopped a few paces back, keeping a distinct distance from Edward and Emmett.

"Would you like something to eat Bella?" Her voice seemed benign, with the same tenderness that Esme had, and only a hint of fear in her voice. I was impressed.

I still wasn't sure if I should trust her though. I sneaked a hurried glance at Edward, silently asking if she was safe to go with. He tenuously nodded his head once without looking in my direction.

I then got up and followed the woman out into the hallway. She led us up a flight of stairs and into some sort of break room. It was a basic white room with a few round tables and 3 vending machines. The woman took out her wallet and inserted some money into one of the machines. I was about to argue, to say that she didn't need to buy me anything, but just then my stomach gave a mighty roar. I decided to just let this one slide.

I sat down at a table and waited for the food to come out. When she sat down next to me, I felt obligated to say something.

"Thank you," I said; my voice hoarse from not speaking in a while. I couldn't think of anything else at the moment, because the smell of chips and a Snickers bar suddenly wafted up to my nose and I was practically salivating from it. I was hungrier than I thought.

"It's no problem at all; you were practically starving in that room. And besides, I wouldn't let my own children waste away just because they were surrounded by... those creatures," she said quietly, not wanting to say the word.

I was filled with sudden fury when she said those words. How dare she call them "those creatures"! One was my soul and reason for existence, and the other one had the best sense of humor out of anyone else I had ever met.

But then I heard an undercurrent in her voice; concern. She was truly concerned about what happened to me. My fury ebbed down until it was only slight annoyance at her words.

"They aren't 'those creatures'. They are more human than you think," I retorted.

She looked surprised by my words. "I thought they were holding you hostage and I was trying to find a way to get you out of there, so you could escape. When your stomach started growling, I told my supervisor that you would be able to tell us information about them if you were alone. That convinced him to let me act out my plan and get you to safety."

Even though I was angry at her assumption that I needed rescuing, I felt touched that she had been willing to risk so much to get me to safety. At least there was one person here who actually cared about my well-being.

"Well, thank you for your concern, but it really was unnecess-"

"Unnecessary!" she argued, "Are you out of your mind! Didn't you hear that big one growl at Peters like that? And how fast he moved? The guards didn't even have a chance to respond. He could have killed him _and_ you in a matter of seconds!" by the time she was done, her voice had risen two octaves higher.

When she was done with her panic induced rambling, I held up my hands, telling her to stop.

"I know how fast they could have killed me, and believe me; it would have taken less than a few seconds to do it," the woman whimpered at this, "but there is no reason to feel afraid of them. Edward wasn't lying when he said that they wouldn't harm anyone here," I stated as I tried to sooth the caring woman.

She assessed this information carefully before continuing. "Then why did the big one," she paused for a second at the look I was giving her, "Ok ok… Emmett, was it… why did he growl like that? Just to make a point?"

"Yeah, pretty much. That's classic Emmett," I said, with some humor in my voice, "He was just trying to prove that vampires exist. And it worked didn't it?"

"Of course it did," she huffed, "That almost gave half the staff heart attacks."

I chuckled for a moment at that. The tension of the conversation was obviously over. "By the way, I never figured out your name."

She gave me a warm smile. "Mrs. Anderson. But you can call me Sarah."

I nodded and stood up to go back to Edward and Emmett when Sarah held up her hand.

"Wait. I wasn't kidding when I said that I told my supervisor that you could tell us information about them. I'm sorry, but you still have some explaining to do," she said dolefully. "I regret telling him this, but I was desperate to get you out of that room."

I nodded, serious again. Apparently the tension wasn't over. I sighed and then followed Sarah through the building into another inconspicuous looking room. This was smaller than the room that Edward and Emmett were still probably in; only about the size of a small bedroom.

There was an important looking man sitting down at a table this time. Unlike Sarah or Peters, he looked at me like I was a dog. Nothing useful except for the information I could give him. I immediately loathed this man. Sarah went to stand behind him with a look identical to the one I was feeling at the moment.

When I sat down, I noticed the small device he was holding. He took a few wires from it and placed them on the table. When he talked to me, it sounded like the same degrading voice that you chose when talking to a five year old. Obviously this man didn't know anything about age or children.

"Hello sweetheart," he spoke with forced happiness, "My name is Mr. Hawk. I'm here to ask you a few questions about your… friends, ok?" I distained him even more as time passed. Behind Hawk I could see Sarah mouthing "I'm sorry". It was a good thing that the camera in the room wasn't facing her.

"Now, first I need you to put this wire to your finger please." I reluctantly obeyed, seeing as I had no choice. When Hawk turned the device on, it kept track of my pulse like a mini heart monitor.

I looked questionably at Sarah who mouthed "lie detector". Understanding passed through me then. The people here were well prepared for interrogations.

"Now, first things first. How old are you Bella?" he asked, probably thinking that I enjoyed that voice. It was time to set him straight.

"I'm 18 Hawk. And I don't appreciate the baby voice either, so could you please treat me like an adult," I said through gritted teeth. He looked very surprised at this information that soon turned into annoyance. I could distinctly hear him mutter "moody teenager" under his breath.

"Fine, Ms. Swan," he snapped. "Second question… how did you meet Edward and Emmett Cullen?"

Should I tell them that the Cullens went to normal high school? Edward never said anything about mentioning that. And besides, I didn't think that I could get away with lying when I had a lie detector combined with my horrible acting skills.

I paused before answering this. "They went to my high school," I was careful not to mention where they lived.

Hawk nodded, assessing this. "Did they hurt anyone while they were at this school?" It sounded almost as if he were wishing for this to happen, so he could blame them.

"No!" I said with certainty, "They never hurt anyone. And besides, they don't hunt people," Sarah flinched when I said "hunt". If that scared her, what would she think when she found out about other vampires?

"What do you mean they don't hunt people?" he asked, "How do they survive then?"

"They only prey on animals," I stated simply.

"Why on Earth would they do that? Aren't humans there natural food source?" He muttered mostly to himself. I was shocked at how calmly he was wondering this.

"Yes, humans are, but they don't want to be monsters. Edward and Emmett believe that it is ethically wrong, so they don't hunt us," I was hedging around Carlisle and the others.

Hawk snorted at this. "Vampires have morals?"

I was personally offended by this. The Cullens were the most ethical family I had ever met. I glared at him before continuing, "Yes, they do. They have more of a conscience than you seem to have."

This seemed to hit a nerve of Hawk's, but I didn't care. He had no right to assume that Edward and Emmett were monsters, even if they were vampires. I could see Sarah subtlety smiling. Either she liked the fact that I was defending up for Edward and Emmett, or she liked how I was probably the first person to stick up to Hawk. Or maybe both.

He was about to make a retort, but he changed his mind and resumed asking me questions calmly. "You said that Edward and Emmett don't hunt humans. Are the rest of their species like that?"

"No," I answered, "Almost all vampires hunt… normally." I couldn't resist the shudder that passed through my spine as I remembered the Volturi and the new born army that nearly killed me a few weeks ago.

Hawk was undoubtedly frightened by this, but he hid it well. "Are there any others of their kind that hunt animals?" This was the question I had feared he would ask. I would have to try to lie to protect the rest of the Cullens' existence.

"No," I said, trying to be as calm as possible and not try to imagine me heartbeat ruining my plan. Of course my heart betrayed me though. Almost immediately after the word came out, the machine buzzed, signaling that I was lying. I cursed under my breath.

"Now Ms. Swan," Hawk whispered in a low, dangerous voice, "I would advise you not to lie again. You could get in very, very big trouble for lying to us," he paused, waiting for the words to sink in, "Now I'm going to ask you one more time. Are there others that exist that live the way that these two do?"

I gulped, and seeing as there was no way out of this, I was forced to answer truthfully. Staring straight into Hawk's malice- filled eyes, I took a deep breath and answered. "Yes, there are. The rest of the Cullens hunt animals too."


	8. Chapter 8

**I don't own Twilight, and I can't think of anything cool to say about not owning the military at the moment… And I have decided to try something new. This chapter is going to be in Sarah's point of view. Mostly this chapter is just going to be about getting to know Sarah's personality.**

Chapter 8

Sarah POV

My mind was buzzing when Bella said "the rest of the Cullens". Wasn't it frightening enough to know that these two... vampires existed. I couldn't even start to comprehend what this meant. The fact that vampires existed, and there was a whole family of them. I suppressed a shudder.

_But didn't Bella say that these creatures only hunted animals? _I tried to console myself. It almost worked until I remembered what she said about the others. "Almost all vampires hunt normally," I recalled with perfect clarity. Normally; a calming word to say that they hunted _us_.

I was about to ask Bella what she meant by this, but I held my tongue. Years of working for Hawk had taught me not to interrupt him while he was in a bad mood, and this was the pinnacle of that mood. I couldn't even remember a time when he was this furious. I hoped for Bella's sake that she didn't do anything to harass him again.

"Explain what you mean when you say 'the rest of the Cullens'," Hawk said steely. I could sense that Bella hated that she had confessed this. Was she really _that_ devoted to them? So much that she didn't want the other members of this group to be captured as well.

I stopped right there. Captured wasn't the correct word in this situation. We could capture criminals, but vampires? If they all had the speed that Emmett had, then they wouldn't stay here long. I wondered why they were still even here at this moment. I was snapped out of my thoughts when Bella answered.

"There are more Cullens than just Edward and Emmett," she reluctantly explained, "including them; there are seven vampires that make up the Cullens. Carlisle, who is the leader, Esme, Jasper, Alice, and Rosalie."

Seven! There were seven! I was involuntarily panicking after she said this, and it took me a few moments to compose myself enough to realize that Bella was probably gaging my reaction in her peripheral vision. She gave me what I believed was a reassuring look before locking eyes with Hawk again.

Hawk was shakily clearing his throat, probably trying to extinguish the fear that was slowly building in him, like it was for me. "There are seven of them," I could see that a thought had suddenly occurred to him, "Where do they live?"

I gave Hawk an incredulous look; I knew where he was going with this. How could he want all seven of them here! Didn't he see the destructive potential with the two we already had? With all of them here, they could kill all of us and our families. Our families! I immediately thought of my daughter Jamie. She was only 15; I couldn't let her be killed just because of Hawk's willingness to have vampires here.

_Stop!_ I ordered myself. If I was going to have to work here and still be sane, then I was going to have to trust Bella when she said that they wouldn't hurt anyone. And I did trust her; I was surprised by how much. She didn't seem like a person who would betray my trust.

Bella's face hardened when Hawk asked this. "Why is that relevant to this situation?"

Hawk was gritting his teeth when he answered this. "Because we will need the whole, uh, family here to answer our questions."

I knew that Bella didn't believe this; the lie wasn't one of his best.

"Look, I have answered your questions, now can I _please _go back to Edward and Emmett?" she pleaded. I could tell that she didn't want to tell anything else about the rest of the Cullens. Even though I was practically dying with curiosity, I didn't speak. I didn't want her to have to be interrogated by Hawk; especially since it was my fault to begin with.

Hawk thought about this request for a moment. "Alright you can go, but I just want to ask you one more question first," he took a deep breath before continuing, "We already know that they have incredible speed. What other superhuman abilities do they have?"

I watched indecision cross his face, then he said, "The only reason I'm asking this is because if we ask them, we won't get the whole story."

He was using an old trick of interrogation; lull the person into a false sense of trustworthiness. I was annoyed at how low he was willing to go to get information. I had just met Bella and I could tell that she wouldn't fall for this.

"What makes you think that I would be willing to share all of their secrets to random strangers?" she asked with venom in her voice.

He deliberated for a second; changing tactics. "Because you would be sharing this with your own species, and you can trust us more than them."

"Can I?" she nearly growled at him. I could tell that this conversation was getting nowhere, so I excused Bella and I outside and led her back down to the others.

"So you really trust them, don't you," I asked warily.

Bella's voice sounded very mature and confident when she finally answered, "Yes. I trust them with my life, and my soul."

I didn't quite understand what she meant by the last part, but I figured that I would find out soon enough.

**A/N Hey guys, sorry for the wait and the really short chapter. I'm not going to be able to do much writing for a few days, so I figured a short chapter is better than no chapter. As always, reviews are welcome.**


	9. Chapter 9

**I don't own Twilight or any characters.**

**A/N I know that it's been over a month since my last update, but I just kind of lost the will to continue writing. But I'm going to try, because I really want to finish this story for all you patiently waiting readers.**

Chapter 9

Bella POV

When I entered Edward and Emmett's room, I couldn't help but smile. I had gone through all those questions without revealing too much. _The rest of the Cullens would have been revealed soon anyway. _I tried to console myself.

Edward immediately came to me, not bothering to control his speed, and brought me into a stone cold embrace. I breathed in his sweet, irresistible scent. I could almost imagine Sarah's held breath when she saw me so close to "a deranged killer".

"Hi," I whispered.

"Hey you're alive," boomed Emmett, "I'm surprised they let you back in here with all the scary vampires," he smirked at the last part.

"Yeah, so am I actually," I said looking at the wall that I was sure where the staff was, "but it probably helps that they can watch every move you make," I said wryly.

Emmett chuckled and looked over at the wall too. I could sense many pairs of eyes watching me, some scrutinizing while others nervously eyed the creatures behind me. And there was one pair that was watching solely for my protection.

"They are probably going to come in soon though, to ask more questions," I stated solemnly.

Edward nodded and looked at the door. He walked me back to the chairs and took a seat. I scooted my chair over to his and took comfort that I was with him again. I wouldn't have to worry about exposing anything else as long as I could have Edward answer the questions.

I wondered what his plan was for getting us out. He would want to escape without harming anyone; it would be what Carlisle would have wanted. _Carlisle._ Again I wondered if Alice knew what was happening to us. She might already be half way here with Carlisle and the others.

The door opening snapped me back to reality. To my horror, Hawk walked in again along with two heavily armed guards. _As if that would hurt Edward or Emmett. _But they didn't know that yet, and the less they knew about vampire weaknesses the better.

I heard Edward growl deep in his chest. I struggled to hide my amusement as I saw Hawk freeze for a moment, before remembering that he had to act like the authority here.

The next thing I saw was something gray and hard appear out of nowhere, coming straight for my head. At the last second Edward's hand came and grabbed the object; a stapler out of midair. He shot Hawk a glare before crushing the stapler in his fist.

"What exactly was that for?" bellowed Emmett. He was angrily looking at the pieces of the former stapler.

"A test," exclaimed Hawk, "I wanted to see if you would be willing to protect her. And apparently I also discovered another inhuman trait about you. Incredible strength."

"Well of course we would protect her; she's family." Edward said. It was obvious that his patience with Hawk was running thin. "And you could have just asked us about super human abilities. I'm sure Emmett would have had fun proving that."

Turning, I saw Emmett grinning mischievously. I suddenly had an image of him taking the table and crunching it down to the size of a domino. I couldn't suppress a chuckle.

Hawk glared at me before looking incredulously at Edward. "You are telling the truth aren't you," he said, surprise coating every word. "If I asked you what other special abilities you two possess, you would tell the truth?"

"Yes. And considering lie detectors won't work on us like they do for Bella, you kinda have to believe us either way," stated Emmett.

Looking bewildered, Hawk's face looked almost comical as he tried to keep a cool, hard mask on, but failing miserably. "How did you know that she was wearing a lie detector? And what do you mean that it won't work on you?"

Edward was still glaring at Hawk for the stapler trick, but he replied reluctantly, "Well to answer the first question, we heard her and you talking. Our hearing, sight, and sense of smell are hundreds of times better than a human's. And as for the second question, well, we don't have a pulse. So a lie detector is rendered useless." During his explanation, I could almost feel the awe coming from the staff on the other side of the wall.

"You don't have a pulse? That isn't even possible! You should be dead right now!" Something about the way he said it seemed to remind me of Peters. Peters struck me as the kind of person that relied on science for all the answers. _I guess he's getting a wakeup call today. _

Emmett chuckled. "Should be is the main word there. Most things about vampires don't make sense. Even when you _are _one, most things aren't logical. Just ask Carlisle."

I internally groaned. _Why_ did he have to say that? Now Hawk will want Carlisle and the others here too.

"Carlisle, Carlisle, why does that name seem familiar?" mumbled Hawk.

"Bella mentioned him when she told about other members of the family," said Edward. I listened for any anger, but there wasn't any. He didn't blame me for telling Hawk about the rest of his, I mean _our_ family. He knew that I had no choice. I still couldn't help but feel grateful that he loved me so much though.

"Hmm. Maybe we should arrange for the other members of your family to come here." said Hawk. It was almost as if he was talking about ordering toppings on a pizza instead of bringing five more deadly predators into his midst.

"No need for that," Edward stated, suddenly bitter. I looked at him expectantly wondering what was wrong. When I saw his eyes, they held many emotions. I saw annoyance, sadness, and worry hidden in them.

Edward continued to stare at Hawk for a moment before continuing. "They are already here."

**Please review. Any author will tell you that reviews are what they live for. Any plot ideas would also be welcome. This author is starting to run out of ideas.**


	10. Chapter 10

**No soy dueño de Twilight (Spanish… got to love it ;)**

Chapter 10

Sarah POV

The other members of this horror film that is now my life _are here. _It was now official; I was going into shock. I was happy that I had made it this long. It looked like the only other people that were still aware were Peters and Hawk.

The only thing that was keeping Peters going was his need for scientific answers. If this wasn't the most amazing discovery in all of humanity, he would have lost all coherent thoughts 5 minutes ago. And the only reason Hawk was so aware was due to his marine background.

A small part of my brain that wasn't detached from my body noticed that Edward was speaking again.

"Now I'm sure that you have many more questions about how I can possibly know that the rest of my family is here. However, that explanation might be better said when more of your staff is coherent." stated Edward. It might just be the fact that I was only thinking with a miniscule amount of my brain, but it sounded as if he was a little smug about his effect on everyone's mind.

For the first time, Hawk looked back to the two sided glass where we were sitting. He looked almost flabbergasted when he spoke into his hidden microphone and heard no reply except from Peters.

"Hmm… you have quite an effect on the employees here. Would you excuse me for a moment," Hawk said coolly. His hasty walk out of the room contradicted his calm, formal words as he nearly crashed into the table in his attempt to get out of the room.

I saw Bella looking at Hawk as he stumbled out of the room. "Impressive. It seems that you are dazzling more and more people every day," exclaimed Bella. She was smiling at Edward while Emmett was chuckling.

Edward beamed. "From what I remember though, you weren't in shock when I told you what we were."

Bella smiled and let loose a yawn. "I guess I'm special then."

"More special then you will ever know," said Edward in that unnaturally smooth voice. Then he gently kissed Bella and pulled her into his lap.

"Ugh enough with the lovie- dovie stuff," complained Emmett, "If I have to be in the same small room with you two, at least keep the romance to a minimum."

Edward glared at his 'brother'. "If Rosalie were here, you two would be doing way more than kissing."

I suppressed a shudder. I wondered briefly who Rosalie was, but my concentration failed me again. _I wonder if this will leave any permanent damage to my brain,_ I mused.

Emmett's childish grin showed on his face before he continued. "Hey, you said that they were here. Are they just waiting outside the gate or something?"

"Yes. But Alice knows that it will be a while before they are let in, so they are just listening to music while Jasper is trying to calm them down." Bella nodded when he said this, and I got the impression that there were more to Edward's words than what he was saying.

How did Edward know that the others were outside? If Emmett couldn't hear them, then he shouldn't be able to either. And how did the other vampires know about this place? This military base is one of the most secretive places in the U.S. I should know… it took me 12 years of work just to be able to qualify to be here.

I was then reminded that there were millions of things we still didn't know about these creatures.

Edward sighed. "You might as well rest love. It will be a while before anything happens." Bella started to disagree with that, but then she yawned again. Then she just gave up and snuggled into Edward's chest. He started to sing a lullaby of some kind, and she was out in seconds.

After another minute, Hawk walked into the room that we were all in. It looked like he was calmer now, and he was quietly looking around at his staff.

"The leach was right, the only people here who look coherent are Peters and Anderson." muttered Hawk, "I wonder how he knew that."

I flinched when he said leech. Even though I wasn't sure if they should be trusted or not, they didn't deserve to be insulted. They hadn't done anything to us, even though they probably could have.

Hawk slammed his fist down on the table and everyone seemed to come out of a trance and focus on him. "Emergency meeting. NOW!" roared Hawk.

Everyone got up and shuffled slowly out of the room. We followed Hawk into the large meeting room on the third floor.

When we entered the room, we all sat down next to the giant hardwood table that dominated the room. Hawk sat at the head of the table and stared at all of us for a moment.

He took a deep breath before speaking. "Are we all thinking coherently again?" He waited while we all shakily nodded our heads. "Ok, good. Now first off, let's go over everything we know about these creatures," he then gestured to Peters. "Peters, you are our top scientist. Please try to explain all of this."

Peters looked nervous. He had never been comfortable having the spotlight, but Hawk always tried to get Peters over his "irrational" fear. There had been rumors lately that Hawk wanted to have Peters as his prodigy. Of course the flustered Peters denied this, but some couldn't help but wonder why Hawk was always so helpful to him.

He nervously cleared his throat before answering. "Well, the most obvious thing we know is that they are vampires. They drink blood in order to survive. And apparently, they don't want to kill humans, so they only drink animal blood."

"The second thing we know is that they have extraordinary senses. I would go out on a limb and say that there sense of smell is probably as good as a shark's, and their vision is as good as a hawk's." He paused looking amused at Hawk for a second before continuing, "They also have incredible speed and strength. And the most important factor; they have intelligence. Maybe even more than a human. All of these factors combined means that these two creatures in our midst are the greatest predators on planet Earth. They are also humanity's only natural predators…"

Peters let his speech sink in. I looked around the room and saw dread plainly on everyone's faces. After it was clear that Peters was done talking Hawk decided to put his own two-cents in.

"It is obvious that these vampires are too dangerous for their own good. I propose that we find out how to destroy them, and make sure that they never harm another human being again!" stated Hawk. He had a violent light in his eyes, and I could tell that he wanted Edward and Emmett dead as soon as possible.

I suddenly had the need to defend these creatures. They didn't deserve to die before we even knew much about them.

"Wait!" I shouted over the murmuring of the other staff. They all quieted down and looked at me. "These creatures don't deserve to die! They may not be humans, but they are still sentient creatures. And remember what Bella said in the interrogation room? The Cullens don't hunt people. You know why; because they think it's morally wrong. They have went beyond their instincts to do what they believe is right. That proves that they can control themselves, and they won't harm anyone."

When I had finished talking, I felt surprised by my feelings. I had no idea how much I really cared about these creatures that I had only known for a few hours.

It took a few moments for me to realize that Hawk was gaping at me incredulously. He kept opening and closing his mouth, trying to put together words in order to contradict my statements.

Finally he looked at me defiantly and said, "How do you know this. Just because this, this _girl_ said that they don't kill our own kind doesn't mean that it is true. They could be lying to her right at this moment. For all we know, they could be using some kind of mind trick and forcing her to say whatever they want."

I could do nothing but stare at him. This was the first time in my entire career that I had stood up to Hawk, and it felt good. I knew that if I could convince all of the other staff members that I was right, then the Cullens would be safe from Hawk's tirade.

I thought for a few moments to find the exact words I needed to convince everyone I was right. Finally, I said, "Ok if you are right, then why does Edward care so much about Bella? You have all seen the way he looks at her and her him," I said gesturing to the others, "that kind of love and devotion cannot be faked. How would he have been able to get that close to her if he kills humans in order to live? And if we killed him, imagine the impact that would have on poor Bella; it would devastate her."

Now Hawk was mad. Really mad. I had never seen him get this furious at anyone before, and for the first time, I was scared that I would lose my job.

Finally he couldn't take it anymore. "So what! Bella is just a bratty teenager who got in over her head dating some guy she can't have! Once he's gone, she will act like any other teenager after a break up; she will stay at home and cry for a week, and then she will be over the guy for good!" exploded Hawk.

Everybody in the room was astonished. We had never witnessed Hawk explode like that before. After a minute, Hawk cooled down and attained his cool composer.

"Now, let's leave it to a vote," said Hawk. I was gritting my teeth about to say something, despite the possibility of losing my job. " All those who want the Cullens to be terminated please raise your-"

"Wait!" yelled Peters, before I could say anything. "We haven't considered the scientific gold mine we have here. Imagine all the things we could learn from these people. Their mental and physical capacity, their inhuman characteristics, and if Hollywood is right and they are immortal that brings a whole new level of knowledge. It would be a crime to destroy them without learning any knowledge at all!"

We were all confounded at Peters' outburst. He was probably the last person in the room who would interrupt Hawk, especially contradict him. And if it wasn't Peters that spoke, Hawk probably would have fired him right on the spot.

I shot Peters a grateful glance, and he returned it with a smile before looking back at our boss. "Sir, I know that you think that these creatures are harmful and cannot be trusted, but hear me out. Imagine the awards and recognition you would get for all of the amazing discoveries made here."

I knew what Peters was doing. He was playing the rich-and-famous card; and it was working. I could almost see the daydream Hawk was having about winning a Nobel Prize award, and his mind was already changed. His face was already changed from the deep red that it was, back to the pale skin color that it has always been.

"Ok Peters, you have a point. We will keep them here and learn more about them. Then we will decide their fate later. Everybody that agrees raise their hand."

I was amazed to see that everyone around the table had their hands raised. Nobody wanted to challenge Hawk.

"Then it's settled. Now let's get back down there and tell the vampires what we have decided. Meeting adjourned."

It was almost comical how many mood swings he had over this meeting. He went from serious to furious and now almost cheerful.

As we all walked out of the room I caught up with Peters. "Thank you," I said sincerely, "Without you speaking up, those vampires would have a death sentence."

He looked up at me, making sure that nobody was around to overhear the conversation. "To be honest Sarah, it was you that changed my mind. I had never thought about the reason why those creatures don't kill humans. Once I heard what you said, I realized that you were right; they don't deserve to die. I knew that if you spoke up to Hawk one more time, he would have fired you. I didn't want that, so I did the only thing I could do. And it worked," he beamed.

I smiled at him. I had never realized how much Peters wanted me here. I had always just assumed that he was a pet of Hawk; a puppet with no backbone. It turned out that I was wrong.

I was still thinking about my new revelation as I walked into the two way glass room. The first thing I noticed was Edward smiling at me.

"Thank you," he said in his velvet smooth voice.

**A/N One of my longest chapters ever :D I think I did a pretty good job on this chapter if I don't say so myself. As always, please review!**


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N So some people have been asking why the Cullens don't just take Bella and walk out of the base. Well the answer is very simple; if they did that, then there wouldn't be much of a story to write :P If this was in reality of the Twilight universe, that's probably exactly what they would do, but that's just boring to write about. So just think of this story as an alternate ending to some weird situation with the Cullens. And enough of my rambling now… **

**I don't own Twilight.**

Chapter 11

Bella POV

About a minute after Hawk left, Edward suddenly tensed. I looked up to him with questions in my eyes, but before I could ask anything he held up one finger. "Shhh love, this is important," he said softly.

I nodded and settled more comfortably in my rusting metal chair. After a few minutes my worried thoughts got the better of me and I looked over at Emmett. "What's happening?" I whispered.

"Well, since there aren't any people in this room anymore, I would say they are having a meeting or something about us," murmured Emmett before he smirked, "Probably trying to decide who the best looking vampire is." Then he flexed his larger-than-life muscles and flashed a grin.

"Yeah that's definitely it," I said sarcastically and rolled my eyes at his male macho-ness.

A few seconds after Emmett was done showing off, Edward snarled and clenched his hands into fists. That was when I really started to panic. Edward usually had very good control and it took a lot to make him break his mask of ignorance to other people's thoughts.

When I opened my mouth to demand to know what was going on, he just held up his hand again. I slumped in my seat and gritted my teeth as I watched Edward go back to his calm but tense manner. Finally he relaxed and said everything was ok; more for me than for Emmett.

"Everyone's coming back now. And Sarah is going to come in here soon, after she is done talking with Peters." he stated. Then he grabbed my hand and started rubbing it soothingly, almost therapeutically.

Seconds later, Sarah walked in smiling and looking a little dazed about something. She focused back on reality when Edward decided to speak.

"Thank you," Edward said. He seemed genuine enough, but I could detect a barely noticeable layer of falseness in his voice.

I gave him a confused look, but he mistook it for a different question. He turned to me and said, "Hawk had a staff meeting to decide what to do with us. They were about to decide to try and kill us, but Sarah turned them down," he gave Sarah another grateful look.

Sarah started to say something, but I was too deep in thought to really pay attention. _Why is Edward lying to her? Doesn't he know that she already cares about us? _ I pondered this question for a minute before I saw the look on a certain vampire's face.

I noticed Emmett secretly looking at me with a pointed glance, looking like he was trying to convey something to me. Then I remembered what the meeting was about. 'They were about to decide to _try_ and kill us'. That meant that no one here knew how hard it was to kill vampires, and Edward wanted to keep it like that.

After I discovered this, I tried my best to act like I was following the conversation the whole time.

"So you still haven't told me; how do you know all those things Edward? Your family being here, the fact that all of us were in shock, what the meeting was about… those are too many coincidences if you ask me.

Emmett was about to say something but Edward stopped him. "It's alright Emmett. Hawk has already left the building and put Peters in charge."

Then Emmett smirked and continued with his private conversation with Edward. Sarah probably thought they were crazy. For the first time since we arrived at this base, Edward laughed. It sounded beautiful and it brightened my mood as easily as Jasper ever could have.

"No, it's not that. He hasn't been sleeping well lately and he is exhausted," continued Edward.

Sarah stared at my amused expression and shook her head. Then she smiled before saying, "What, so vampires have telepathy or something?" I was amazed at how calmly she said this as opposed to only an hour ago.

Emmett burst out laughing at Sarah's question. "Nope. That's all Edward. He's a freak among freaks."

I glared at Emmett while Edward rolled his eyes. "To answer your question, I can read minds. Everyone's, except Bella's."

I could almost hear the dozens of gasps behind the wall of unseen glass. Sarah's eyes widened past what I believed were possible.

"I- I need to sit down a moment." So much for her calm acceptance. She stumbled into the remaining chair in the room and collapsed in it.

"You aren't going to go into shock again, are you?" snickered Emmett.

After a few seconds Sarah replied, "You tell me."

Edward smirked before saying, "No you aren't. And now you are trying to review all of your thoughts that you had over the past hour, much like the rest of the staff are doing now." He was trying hard not to sound too smug.

"And now you are thinking that Peters will have to have a vacation after all the work and studying he is going to do," chuckled Edward.

Sarah blushed and started laughing nervously. "Wow. You weren't kidding when you said you could hear _all _our thoughts."

Edward nodded before staring at the wall to our left. "And for Peters," he paused, "Yes, I will explain my mind reading later. Your thoughts are practically shouting at me to tell you about it."

We all chuckled at this.

"Now if you don't mind, could you let the rest of our family in? They are starting to get impatient. And by that I mean Alice won't stop honking the horn." Oh Alice.

Sarah looked surprised by this. "Oh, right. Them. Uh, can someone let them in?" Everyone could tell she was distracted by the sudden turn of events.

"Peters is going," said Edward. Then his face suddenly twisted into a grimace. "Do any of you have any ear plugs?"

I looked confusedly at him. Why would a vampire need ear plugs? I was about to say something, but Sarah beat me to it.

"What reason would a vampire have for ear plugs?" she asked.

"Let's just say that we are all going to wish we were deaf when Rosalie comes in. She has a lot she wishes to… 'discuss' when she sees me," said Edward dejectedly.

I let out a sigh. I couldn't really blame Rosalie for wanting to bite Edward's head off. She didn't even want me to originally be in the family because it could put them all at risk of being exposed. And now her worst fear was becoming reality. If anything, it _was_ my fault that others knew of them.

I cringed when I thought of the enraged blonde vampire that would surely be yelling at me too. Hopefully Emmett would be able to calm her down a bit first. That was my only hope.

Emmett looked guiltily at my cringe. "She can be a little… hot headed when she wants to be," he mumbled to Sarah.

To my surprise, Sarah looked amused by our words. I wondered if she expected all of the Cullens to be as level headed as Edward and Emmett were. She was going to be in for a shock if she was.

"I'm sure that earplugs won't be necessary. How bad can she be?" Sarah ignorantly stated.

Just then Edward cringed and said, "Well, you are about to find out in a few seconds. Right now she is mentally screaming at the top of her lungs at me right now."

And he was right; a couple seconds later I could make out the faint sound of ringing bells that was Rosalie's voice. Even in her enraged state and her voice being two octaves higher than usual, her voice still sounded more beautiful than music.

"WHERE IS HE? WHERE IS THAT STUPID, IDIOTIC EXCUSE FOR A VAMPIRE?" she screamed. Sarah's eyebrows almost went into her hairline when she heard this. _She was probably expecting an angelic figure to calmly walk into here._

"Poor Peters," muttered Emmett.

When Rosalie stormed in, Sarah's jaw dropped to the floor, probably like all the men's jaws were. I didn't blame them. Rosalie was drop dead gorgeous.

She immediately ran at Edward and uttered a whole strand of curses that should never be repeated. Then she had an iron hard grip on Edward's shirt, and before I could react, she slapped him as hard as she possible could. It probably would have broken a human man's skull. The sound of metal snapping resonated for a moment, before disappearing.

After she had done this, Emmett grabbed her from behind and lifted her off the ground, probably saving Edward from more of Rosalie's wrath.

"I know that this probably isn't the best time for a reunion, but I missed you babe," whispered Emmett to the struggling Rosalie.

At this point, I was about as afraid of Rosalie as I was from Victoria. Her talon like fingers, her ferocious snarl, and the glare she was giving at Edward that could only mean 'I'm going to kill you' were exactly like my former nightmare's. The only difference was Victoria's flame colored hair.

Edward was rubbing his cheek when he said, "Jasper, can't you calm her down already?"

I had forgotten that the others were here too. Compared to Rosalie's entrance, they were uncharacteristically un-noticeable and very calm. However, Jasper still looked like he was annoyed.

"I was, yes, but I decided to let her get one good slap in," Jasper said. In a few seconds Rosalie stopped struggling and Emmett set her down. She still had an irritated expression though.

"How could you do this Edward? You exposed our whole family, and put everyone at risk," he hissed. There was no doubt that he was referring to Alice.

Edward looked down in shame at these words. "You are right, it is my fault. I was stupid and idiotic, and it's my fault that we are here."

I couldn't take how his voice sounded so defeated and full of regret. "Wait! It's not Edward's fault that everything happened," I said to Jasper, "it's mine. I'm the one who wanted to come to Phoenix." I hung my head in shame.

Rosalie let loose a fierce growl before glaring at me.

"Now wait a minute, it's nobody's fault that we are here. So let's stop blaming each other and act like civilized creatures again," said Carlisle, speaking for the first time.

Rosalie resolved to just looking down angrily, and Jasper seemed to look embarrassed for his rude behavior.

Carlisle sighed before slowly walking over to a shocked Sarah. He held out his hand for her to hesitantly shake.

"Hello, I'm Carlisle."

**A/N So, what do you guys think? Maybe I'm being over critical, but it seems that the story seems to be getting kind of boring. I'm thinking of maybe just doing a fun chapter soon to liven the story up or something. Any suggestions (something original please).**


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